Some old tweed...

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

iammatt
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Sat Feb 10, 2007 7:35 pm

Perhaps this one will not catch the eye of the cloth club, but it is a lovely vintage shetland that arrived at my house yesterday. The scale of the pattern is not seen much nowadays:

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angelo
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Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:22 pm

A wonderful vintage tweed chosen as the LH (London House) back label indicates from the wide, and most likely unique in terms of variety , vintage british cloth collection of Mariano Rubinacci.
Also the jacket cutting is splendid with the typical applied pockets of the neapolitan style.

My compliments!
DD MacDonald
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Sat Feb 10, 2007 10:51 pm

Matt - check out the Alden Gun Club that Michael proposed. The coloration is different but I think that the scale will be not too far off. If and when it gets made, I think that the cloth will be great.

Your shetland is great, a look in my closet shows mostly olives, browns and tans for odd jackets and I'm dedicated to rounding it out in with blues and grays.

DDM
luk-cha

Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:50 am

Matt what a great fabric choice! i feel you will get a lot of great comment in this, like you said you dont get to see a lot of tweeds like this most are earthy in tone!

i hope you will post some pictures with you wearing it as i think this is the only way as to do justice to it. :)
Dragon
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:27 am

Very nice!

I see you decided to get a more casual chest pocket this time...nice!

By the way, do you always get your jackets fully lined?
iammatt
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:51 am

Dragon wrote:Very nice!

I see you decided to get a more casual chest pocket this time...nice!

By the way, do you always get your jackets fully lined?
No, I generally get linen and fresco half lined. The shetland needs the lining IMO or it will start to get baggy in spots. It is a pretty loose weave.
yachtie
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:52 am

I'd be interested if this were in brown tones rather than blue. (Just not my color palette for sportscoats) but of itself, a very nice coat Matt.
Dragon
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 3:26 am

iammatt wrote:
Dragon wrote:Very nice!

I see you decided to get a more casual chest pocket this time...nice!

By the way, do you always get your jackets fully lined?
No, I generally get linen and fresco half lined. The shetland needs the lining IMO or it will start to get baggy in spots. It is a pretty loose weave.
Thanks for the info. I always wondered what the benefits were of full lining vs half, quarter, no lining.
Dragon
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 3:31 am

yachtie wrote:I'd be interested if this were in brown tones rather than blue. (Just not my color palette for sportscoats) but of itself, a very nice coat Matt.
Personally, I think the blue tone is what makes the fabric even more appealing, because you don`t really see that shade of blue these days.
Swann
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 12:58 pm

Can you tell us something about the weight of the cloth? It looks rather light, compared to you other Rubinacci tweed coat.
Despos
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:08 pm

Matt,
Do you wear anything besides grey trousers with this? Any shades of blue?

I would like to see more detail of the weave. Doesn't appear to be "tweed" that I am familiar with. Is this a firm shetland or does the cloth have a soft hand.

I know pictures aren't the most accurate and there is an angle to the shot, but I keep wanting to raise the breast patch up about an inch.
iammatt
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:18 pm

Despos wrote:Matt,
Do you wear anything besides grey trousers with this? Any shades of blue?

I would like to see more detail of the weave. Doesn't appear to be "tweed" that I am familiar with. Is this a firm shetland or does the cloth have a soft hand.

I know pictures aren't the most accurate and there is an angle to the shot, but I keep wanting to raise the breast patch up about an inch.
Mostly flannels and white heavyweight cords.

The weave is pretty loose. It is like one of the handwoven tweeds that you see from A&S. He tends to put all breast pockets a little lower than normal. I don't know why, but it looks right to me by now.
Despos
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Sun Feb 11, 2007 6:41 pm

it looks like the top of the patch is on line of what would be the bottom seam if this was a regualr breast welt. I would put the top of the patch on line with the top of the breast welt and maybe a bit higher than that.

You mentioned he has done a mock up of the pockets for you to choose. See if he is open to raisng the patch on a mock up.

Seems contradictory styling as many of their jackets have a closer to the bottom position of the lower pockets with the thought process being this may elongate the aesthetic of the jacket body by lengthening the distance from breast to lower pocket. Wouldn't this apply to patch pockets as well?
filangieri
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Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:08 pm

Needless to say that the vintage Shetland tweed that Iammat picked from the “London House” vault in the Palazzo Cellammare (*) is absolutely exquisite in its “demode” colour palette and pattern scale.
As far as the tailoring, from what I can see (... since the coat is on a hanger and not on Iammat's shoulders) Rubinacci’s “sarti” did a first class job, providing a flawless, understated rendition of an old time classic rarely seen today, when most gentlemen, including plenty of highly educated Neapolitan bespoke aficionados, are inclined to ask their tailors to raise the gorge and breast pocket placement way over the limit of good taste and tradition.
IMHO, a moderately (... and I mean: MO-DE-RA-TE-LY) high gorge and “taschino” can beautifully compliment a jacket made by the very best Maestros who provide a slightly different and moderately (... once again: MO-DE-RA-TE-LY) “aggressive” rendition of the Neapolitan style, while Rubinacci’s most paradigmatic feature is its timeless and understated soft cut, that goes extremely well with a more “relaxed” placement of the coat details.
Back to the fabric colour: for no apparently logical reason, other than navy blazers I don’t wear any blue or bluish bespoke sport-coat.
More than 15 years ago, I bought an ocean blue, heavy-weight RTW Harris tweed herringbone jacket that I used to wear quite often during the week-ends with denims and turtlenecks.
Now that I hardly ever pick any non-bespoke item from my wardrobe, it’s probably time to think about replacing the old herringbone tweed with a new sartorial project.
Last time I visited my tailor, he showed me a magnificent piece of blue-on-grey (or grey-on-blue ... who cares ? :D ) large hounds-tooth homespun Shetland that might be well worth taking into consideration in the near future.
________

(*) Iammat, the Palazzo Cellammare in the Via Chiaia, where Mariano keeps the bulk of his large fabric stock and a “sort of” Rubinacci outlet store is one of Napoli’s most illustrious historical palaces. Approximately a century ago Benedetto Croce, the famous Neapolitan senator, historian and philosopher (and one of my favourite authors) wrote a beautiful, engaging short essay about the history of the Palazzo and its past owners. If you find any English translation, I strongly recommend reading Croce’s books about Neapolitan history and folklore before, during and after your sartorial pilgrimages.
iammatt
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Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:15 pm

Filangieri-

In fact I found this tweed packed in the back of the cassaforte in the old building.

Since I don't think that a picture on a hangerdoes any justice to anything, good or bad, here is the coat on me today. I think that it looks great, but it is mine so I may be biased :oops: :oops: .

Image
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